THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT:  INDIVIDUAL 
DIFFERENCES  AND  CORRELATIONS 


BY  TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


Reprinted  from  The  Psychological  Review,  Vol.  XX.,  No.  6,  November,  1913.] 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/associationexperOOkell 


\ n _ 


K 


(Reprinted  from  The  Psychological  Review,  Yol.  XX.i  No.  6,  Nov.,  1913  ] 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT:  INDIVIDUAL 
DIFFERENCES  AND  CORRELATIONS1 

BY  TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


Columbia  University 


This  paper  deals  with  the  correlation  of  certain  laboratory 
tests  in  association,  with  class  standings  in  mathematics, 
science  and  foreign  languages. 

The  association  experiment  used  was  by  a somewhat  more 
complete  method  than  the  ordinary  free  association  experi- 
ment in  that  complete  introspections  were  recorded. 

The  following  100  words  were  used  as  stimulus  words: 


I. 

arch 

26.  bar 

Si- 

secure 

2. 

prude 

27.  president 

52. 

giggle 

3- 

egotism 

28.  fluster 

S3- 

inhuman 

4- 

single 

29.  juicy 

54- 

ecstacy 

5- 

chastity 

30.  death 

55- 

lace 

6. 

ginger 

31.  press 

56. 

hint 

7- 

shrew 

32.  beauty 

57- 

blush 

8. 

adapt 

33.  retard 

58. 

wicked 

9- 

tough 

34.  ghostly 

59- 

conscience 

10. 

morality 

35.  future 

60. 

shoulder 

11. 

rubber 

36.  text 

61. 

graft 

12. 

coquet 

37.  success 

62. 

behave 

13- 

kick 

38.  abstract 

63. 

sacrifice 

14. 

forward 

39.  fatalism 

64. 

philosophy 

IS- 

truth 

40.  gauze 

65. 

trifle 

16. 

cake 

41.  error 

66. 

bedlum 

17- 

skeptic 

42.  gargle 

67. 

consent 

18. 

extort 

43.  energetic 

68. 

courage 

19. 

modest 

44.  apathy 

69. 

cowardice 

20. 

religion 

45.  silk 

70. 

course 

21. 

knife 

46.  stage 

71- 

habit 

22. 

fanatic 

47.  curse 

72- 

gamble 

23- 

insult 

48.  duty 

73- 

purity 

24. 

flaxen 

49.  valor 

74- 

drug 

25- 

soul 

50.  velvet 

75- 

snake 

1This  experiment  was  conducted  at  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1911  and  the 
complete  data,  including  a record  of  the  1,200  introspections,  is  to  be  found  on  file 
in  the  library  of  the  university. 


479 


480 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


76.  intention 

84.  temperance 

92.  quitter 

77.  caution 

85.  chide 

93.  thrill 

78.  alimony- 

86.  law 

94.  character 

79.  atheism 

87.  virtue 

95.  thief 

80.  cuckoo 

88.  reverse 

96.  guile 

81.  height 

89.  handsome 

97.  bully 

82.  deject 

90.  temper 

98.  revel 

83.  concept 

91.  heaven 

99.  revenge 
100.  iniquity 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a very  generous  proportion  of  ther 
are  more  or  less  abstract  in  their  nature.  These  abstract 
words  were  chosen  with  the  aim  of  bringing  out  significar.lt 
modes  of  reaction,  which  it  was  thought  they  would  accorr 
plish  more  readily  than  concrete  and  less  difficult  word 
The  remainder  are  intended  to  represent  a random  samplirlg 
of  the  words  used  in  ordinary  life. 

The  instructions  to  the  observers  were  that  upon  hearir  g 
one  of  these  stimulus  words  they  were  to  react  with  the  fir:  it 
word  that  came  to  mind.  They  were  told  that  no  logic;  il 
relation  between  stimulus  word  and  reaction  word  wa 
demanded — the  only  requirement  being  that  the  reactioi  1 
word  must  be  one  suggested  in  some  manner  by  the  stimulu 
word. 

The  time  between  stimulus  word  and  reaction  was  meas  ■ 
ured  by  means  of  a stop  watch,  operated  by  the  experimented 
The  watch  was  read  to  ioths  of  a second  by  estimation 
between  5ths  of  a second  divisions  and  was  started  ana 
stopped  by  the  armature  of  an  electric  magnet  which  was  in 
circuit  with  an  easily  operated  key.  This  arrangement 
proved  more  precise  than  could  be  obtained  by  manipulating 
the  watch  directly.  A series  of  tests  to  determine  the 
probable  error  in  the  time  of  observation  due  to  the  experi- 
menter’s manipulation  showed  it  to  be  slightly  less  than  .1 
second,  i.  e .,  his  average  deviation  in  measuring  a stimulus 
of  known  duration  was  about  .1  second.  The  time  between 
the  end  of  the  stimulus  word  and  the  beginning  of  the  reaction 
word  is  taken. 

After  the  reaction  the  observer  was  asked  for  a complete 
introspection  concerning  the  association  process  and  a short- 
hand record  of  this  account  was  taken.  (The  entire  data 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


481 


for  this  experiment  comprising  some  80  closely  written  pages 
are  too  bulky  to  incorporate  in  this  article.)  The  data  are 
classified  according  to  three  schemes.  (The  detailed  classi- 
fication is  likewise  omitted  having  little  significance  separate 
from  the  original  data.) 

1.  All  the  associations  which  the  introspections  showed 
referred  to  some  particular  situation  are  classed  in  a Par- 
ticular Situation  class.  All  other  associations  are  put  into  a 
General  Situation  class.  The  reference  to  a particular  situa- 
tion is  shown  by  the  visual  imagery  or  other  thought  process 
being  a memory  of  some  specific  circumstance.  The  following 
are  illustrations  of  this  class : The  association  of  Observer  E, 
No.  5,  was  as  follows:  stimulus  ‘chastity,’  reaction  ‘pure,’ 
introspection  “I  thought  of  one  of  Shakespeare’s  plays.  The 
class  discussed  the  character  of  the  play  and  the  purity  of 
the  heroine.  Visual  image  of  the  page  in  the  book  dealing 
with  this.”  Another  illustration:  Observer  /,  No.  23 — 
stimulus  ‘insult,’  reaction  ‘offence,’  introspection  “The 
idea  came  from  having  recently  heard  Ex-Governor  Glenn, 
who  spoke  about  the  insult  to  the  white  population.  He 
seemed  to  pronounce  the  word  as  though  it  were  ‘insulu-it.’” 

2.  The  data  are  classified  according  to  the  imagery  in- 
volved, using  the  following  seven  subdivisions:  Articulatory ; 
Visual;  Kinesthetic;  a General  group  composed  of  Olfactory, 
Gustatory,  Cutaneous,  Auditory  and  Organic;  Second  Articu- 
latory (by  which  is  meant  that  the  reaction  word  is  one  that 
had  occurred  at  least  once  before  in  the  series) ; Second  Visual 
(by  which  is  meant  that  the  visual  imagery  is  the  same  as  that 
called  up  by  some  preceding  word) ; No  Imagery.  In  a very 
considerable  number  of  observations,  more  than  one  kind  of 
imagery  was  involved.  In  such  cases  as  many  different  kinds 
of  imagery  were  credited  with  the  reaction  as  the  intro- 
spection showed  to  be  present.  The  reliability  of  these 
different  classes  differs  greatly.  The  first  class,  Articulatory 
Imagery , is  very  unreliable  for  the  reason  that  most  of  the 
observers,  although  advanced  students  of  psychology,  were 
uncertain  as  to  the  criteria  of  articulatory  imagery.  This 
was  equally  true  of  kinesthetic,  olfactory,  gustatory,  cutane- 


482 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


ous,  auditory  and  organic  imagery.  It  is  not  the  case  with  ] 
visual  imagery;  here  the  introspections  are  definite  and  in 
only  a few  cases  does  the  observer  show  doubt  as  to  the 
existence  or  non-existence  of  visual  imagery.  The  Second 
Articulatory  class  is  exact,  depending  entirely  upon  the 
previous  use  of  the  reaction  word.  In  explaining  his  intro- 
spections the  observer  very  generally  used  the  stimulus  word 
and  necessarily  thought  it  in  all  cases.  For  this  reason  in 
later  reactions,  if  the  reaction  word  previously  occurred  as  a 
stimulus  word  the  association  was  classed  under  Second 
Articulatory.  The  Second  Visual  class  proved  so  small  that 
it  need  not  be  considered.  The  No  Imagery  class  is  a small 
one,  comprising  only  those  reactions  in  which  the  observer 
definitely  denied  the  presence  of  imagery.  If  the  intro- 
spection contains  no  statement  at  all  in  regard  to  the  imagery 
the  association  is  put  into  the  Articulatory  class,  thus  further 
tending  to  make  the  class  unreliable.  The  only  two  classes 
considered  accurate  for  the  purpose  of  this  study  are  the 
Visual  and  Second  Articulatory . 

3.  A classification  according  to  the  nature  of  the  mental 
process  involved  in  association  is  used.  It  is  a modification 
of  the  classification  used  by  Wells1  and  consists  of  the  follow- 
ing 15  classes:  (1)  Sound;  (2)  Phrase  Completion;  (3)  Syn- 
onyms; (4)  Contrast;  (5)  Coexistence;  (6)  Predicate  and 
Judgment  of  Quality;  (7)  Subordination;  (8)  Coordination; 
(9)  Supraordination;  (10)  Egocentric;  (11)  Egocentric  Predi- 
cate; (12)  Subject  Relation;  (13)  Object  Relation;  (14) 
Causality;  (15)  Failure.  An  explanation  in  some  detail  will 
be  necessary  to  indicate  just  what  is  put  into  each  class  and 
the  lines  of  demarcation  between  the  classes.  The  classi- 
fication is  a purely  arbitrary  one  and  there  is  no  natural  line 
of  division  between  classes,  but  that  fact  does  not  in  itself 
destroy  the  usefulness  of  the  classification  if  it  is  possible  to 
measure  the  degree  of  relation  between  the  classes  and  thus 
utilize  their  interdependence.  A further  discussion  of  this 
point  is  given  later  in  describing  the  method  of  grouping. 
The  following  principles  are  followed  in  the  classification  of 
the  data: 

1 American  Journal  of  Psychology,  January,  1909. 


i 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


4S3 


1.  Class  1 comprises  those  associations  in  which  the 
sound  of  the  word  played  the  leading  part,  as  in  the  following: 
Observer  D,  No.  49,  stimulus  ‘valor,’  reaction  ‘vanity,’ 
introspection  “A  sound  reaction.  After  reacting  the  meaning 
came  as  ‘bravery.’”  Associations  in  which  the  reaction 
word  is  some  modified  form  of  the  stimulus  word  are  also 
found  in  this  class,  e.  g.,  observer  D , No.  64,  stimulus  ‘phi- 
losophy,’ reaction  ‘philosopher.’  There  is  little  difficulty  in 
determining  the  associations  which  belong  to  this  class, 
though  occasionally  an  uncertainty  arises,  e.  g.,  stimulus 
‘man,’  reaction  ‘mankind’  might  properly  be  either  in  this 
class,  the  class  Supraordination,  or  the  class  Phrase  Com- 
pletion. This  difficulty  is  not  serious,  as  the  introspections 
almost  invariably  indicate  to  which  class  such  a reaction 
belongs.  The  difficulty  in  distinguishing  between  class  2 
and  class  1 is  slightly  greater  than  that  between  any  of  the 
other  classes  and  class  1. 

2.  Class  2 is  comprised  of  those  reactions  in  which  a word 
(in  case  the  stimulus  is  the  first  part  of  a compound  word), 
a phrase,  or  an  idea,  is  completed  by  the  addition  of  another 
word  or  words.  Such  a reaction  as  the  following:  stimulus 
‘text,’  reaction  ‘text-book’  is  put  into  this  class,  though  it 
does  not  differ  much  from  the  following:  stimulus  ‘man,’ 
reaction  ‘mankind,’  which  would  have  been  put  into  Class  1. 
Another  illustration  of  a reaction  put  into  this  class  is  the 
following:  stimulus  ‘shrew,’  reaction  ‘Taming  of  the  Shrew,’ 
introspection  “I  thought  of  the  play  ‘Taming  of  the  Shrew’ 
in  articulatory  terms.”  This  class  is  not  as  clearly  defined 
as  the  first,  conflicting  more  or  less  with  most  of  the  other 
classes.  Illustrations  of  the  conflict  with  the  different  classes 
are  readily  available — the  following  is  one:  stimulus  ‘black,’ 
reaction  ‘white,’  introspection  “I  thought  of  the  phrase 
‘black  and  white.’”  Whether  this  belongs  here  or  in  Con- 
trast is  a question.  If  the  phrase  were  ‘black  and  blue’  it 
would  have  been  put  into  this  class.  The  Phrase  Completion 
class  especially  competed  with  the  Subject  Relation  and 
Object  Relation  classes  in  its  claim  for  certain  reactions, 
e.  g .,  observer  D , No.  88,  stimulus  ‘reverse,’  reaction  ‘engine,’ 


! 


4S4 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


I 


introspection  “ Clear  visual  image  of  the  throttle  of  an 
engine.”  This  quite  clearly  belongs  in  the  Object  Relation 
class,  but  if  the  introspection  had  been  “I  thought  of  the 
phrase  ‘reverse  the  engine,”’  the  reaction  would  have  be- 
longed in  the  Phrase  Completion  class.  In  a number  of  cases 
the  introspections  do  not  clear  up  the  difficulty.  It  is  felt 
by  the  writer  that  the  distinction  between  the  Phrase  Com- 
pletion class  and  the  Subject  Relation  and  Object  Relation 
classes  is  particularly  indefinite. 

3.  The  Synonym  class  is  composed  of  those  cases  in  which 
the  reaction  word  is  more  or  less  accurately  a synonym  of  the 
stimulus  word.  The  Identity,  or  Synonym,  class  gradually 
grades  into  the  Coexistence  class  or  the  Coordination  class. 
However,  if  a word  might  equally  well  be  put  into  the  Co- 
existence or  Synonym  class,  it  was  always  put  into  the  latter. 

4.  The  Contrast  class  is  composed  of  those  reactions  show- 
ing contrast  between  stimulus  and  reaction  word,  and  also 
of  certain  reactions  in  which  the  introspection  shows  plainly 
that  the  idea  of  contrast  is  present,  though  the  stimulus 
and  reaction  words  do  not  show  it,  e . g .,  observer  /,  No.  69, 
stimulus  ‘cowardice,’  reaction  ‘fight,’  the  introspection 
giving  as  the  idea,  that  the  opposite  of  cowardice — courage — 
can  be  shown  only  by  a fight.  As  the  idea  of  contrast 
between  stimulus  and  reaction  is  less  and  less  pronounced 
this  class  grades  imperceptibly  into  the  class  Coordination. 
It  is  also  related  to  Coexistence  since  a large  number  of 
contrasting  ideas  are  also  coexisting.  If  the  contrast  is  not  a 
perfect  one  there  may  be  a question  whether  the  association 
belongs  in  the  Contrast  or  one  of  the  classes  Subordination, 
Supraordination.  This  latter  difficulty  did  not  prove  a very 
general  one. 

5.  The  Coexistence  class  is  a very  general  class.  It  is 
related  to  all  the  other  classes,  though  it  was  not  credited 
with  any  reaction  that  could  be  put  into  any  other  one. 
When  the  reaction  word  is  quite  apparently  related  in  some 
way  to  the  stimulus  word,  but  in  so  obscure  a way  that  it 
cannot  be  said  to  be  a relation  of  Identity,  Contrast,  etc., 
the  association  is  classified  here.  In  certain  of  the  reactions 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


485 


of  this  class  the  stimulus  and  reaction  words  represent 
things  which  coexist  in  nature,  and  in  certain  others  the  stimu- 
lus and  reaction  words  represent  two  ideas  which  coexist  only 
in  the  realm  of  thought. 

6.  In  the  beginning  of  the  classification  it  was  attempted 
to  distinguish  between  a simple  predicate  and  a judgment  of 
quality,  but  the  two  classes  so  nearly  approached  identity  in 
the  mind  of  the  classifier  that  it  was  abandoned  and  in  the 
following  discussion  the  two  classes  are  grouped  as  a single 
Predicate  class.  There  are  two  main  types  of  association 
in  this  class:  ( a ) those  in  which  some  object  is  named  as  the 
stimulus  and  a predicate  of  it  given  as  the  reaction  word,  and 
(1 b ) those  in  which  a predicate  is  named  and  some  object  given 
to  which  this  predicate  is  appropriate.  A reaction  such  as 
the  following  would  be  put  into  this  class;  stimulus  ‘beauty/ 
reaction  ‘girl.’  It  is  thought  that  such  a stimulus  is  taken 
either  as  ‘beautiful’  or  immediately  suggests  it,  making  the 
association  of  the  genuine  predicate  type. 

7 and  9.  The  classes  Subordination  and  Supraordination 
may  be  easily  separated  by  arbitrarily  saying  that  such  a 
reaction  as  the  following;  stimulus  ‘horse,’  reaction  ‘animal,’ 
shall  be  put  into  the  Supraordination  class  and  a reaction; 
stimulus  ‘animal,’  reaction  ‘horse,’  shall  be  put  into  the 
Subordination  class,  and  such  has  been  the  method  here 
used,  but  an  attempted  analysis  of  the  thought  processes 
involved  by  no  means  yields  such  a clear-cut  distinction. 
The  Predicate  and  Subordination  classes  seem  related  since 
the  mental  process  of  attaching  a specific  example  to  a larger 
class  is  quite  analogous  to  that  of  attaching  a predicate  to  an 
object.  For  a similar  reason  the  Predicate  and  Supra- 
ordination classes  seem  related. 

8.  The  Coordination  class  is  arbitrarily  limited  to  cases 
in  which  the  stimulus  word  and  reaction  word  are  of  equal 
logical  value,  unless  the  introspection  shows  in  some  other 
case  that  the  coordination  idea  is  present,  e.  g .,  it  is  of  course 
quite  possible  that  the  idea  of  coordination  may  be  present 
when  stimulus  and  reaction  words  are  as  different  as  the 
following;  stimulus  ‘beauty,’  reaction  ‘man’ — in  such  a case 


486 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


the  introspection  might  reveal  that  the  idea  was  of  a ‘beauti- 
ful woman’  and  a ‘handsome  man.’  The  relation  between 
Coordination  and  Synonyms,  and  Contrast,  has  been  dis- 
cussed under  those  topics. 

io  and  ii.  The  class  Egocentric  contains  only  eight  obser- 
vations and  the  class  Egocentric  Predicate  contains  none  at 
all,  hence  the  discussion  of  these  classes  will  be  omitted.  It 
is  quite  possible  that  they  might  be  of  very  considerable  size 
with  different  observers. 

12  and  13.  The  Subject  Relation  class  is  comprised  of 
two  kinds  of  reactions:  ( a ) those  in  which  the  stimulus  word 
is  a verb  and  the  reaction  word  the  subject  of  it,  and  ( b ) those 
in  which  the  stimulus  word  is  a noun,  conceived  of  as  the 
subject  of  the  reaction  word,  which  is  a verb.  Similarly 
there  are  two  kinds  of  reactions  put  into  the  Object  Relation 
class.  The  similarity  between  these  classes  and  the  Phrase 
Completion  class  has  already  been  noted.  The  number  of 
observations  in  these  two  classes  is  small. 

14.  Causality  is  a very  limited  class  and  comprises  those 
reactions  in  which  the  stimulus  represents  the  cause  of  the 
reaction  word,  or  vice  versa.  The  following  is  an  illustration; 
observer  E,  No.  23,  stimulus  ‘insult,’  reaction  ‘man,’  intro- 
spection “Hazy  visual  image  of  a man  coming  along  the 
sidewalk  and  shoving  a lady  over  to  one  side.”  The  illustra- 
tion cited  shows  the  close  connection  between  this  class  and 
the  Subject  Relation  and  Object  Relation  classes. 

15.  The  Failure  class  is  composed  of  two  kinds  of  re- 
actions: (a)  those  in  which  there  is  a blocking  of  the  associ- 
ation processes  and  a corresponding  inability  to  react,  and 
(b)  those  in  which  the  reaction,  though  set  off  by  the  stimulus 
word,  has  no  connection  with  it  and  is,  in  reality,  a reaction 
to  an  ideational  process  inaugurated  by  the  observer  entirely 
independent  of  the  stimulus  word.  Very  few  reactions  of 
this  nature  occurred,  and  in  fact  the  entire  class  is  small. 

Following  is  a table  showing  the  more  important  elements 
of  the  complete  classification. 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


487 


Observers 

Reaction  Time 

Variability 

Particular 

Situation 

Visual  Imagery 

Second 

Articulatory 

A 

I.38 

.32 

20 

74 

l6 

B 

1.03 

.20 

43 

70 

6 

C 

1-34 

•SO 

6 

5 

3 

D 

1.44 

.89 

5 

33 

3 

E 

1.71 

•43 

49 

57 

8 

F 

1.40 

•30 

9 

38 

9 

G 

1.20 

•30 

30 

7 1 

7 

H 

1-34 

•30 

4 

4i 

7 

I 

1.44 

•33 

49 

48 

3 

J; 

1.27 

.38 

6 

62 

13 

1.06 

.24 

8 

82 

43 

L 

1.64 

•35 

22 

56 

4 

Sound 

Phrase 

Comp. 

Syno- 

nyms 

Con- 

trast 

Coex. 

Pred. 

Subor. 

Coor. 

Supra. 

Egoc. 

| Obj. 
j Rel. 

Causal 

Failure 

A 

4 

9 

21 

2 

II 

36 

8 

4 

O 

4 

1 

O 

O 

0 

A 

B 

2 

14 

4 

3 

14 

43 

5 

6 

6 

O 

1 

I 

I 

0 

B 

C 

1 

15 

49 

0 

9 

14 

3 

0 

1 

O 

1 

O 

3 

4 

C 

D 

36 

9 

19 

4 

5 

8 

3 

3 

2 

O 

0 

I 

0 

10 

D 

E 

12 

8 

11 

2 

1 7 

24 

4 

5 

5 

O 

3 

5 

2 

2 

E 

F 

2 

28 

25 

11 

11 

10 

1 

3 

1 

0 

2 

1 

4 

I 

F 

G 

3 

8 

22 

1 

23 

18 

14 

0 

0 

0 

2 

3 

5 

I 

G 

H 

3 

9 

28 

5 

12 

18 

5 

3 

1 

3 

3 

3 

4 

3 

H 

I 

6 

6 

33 

13 

12 

5 

3 

8 

5 

0 

0 

3 

2 

4 

I 

J 

2 

7 

3i 

1 6 

5 

12 

2 

12 

1 

0 

1 

2 

4 

5 

J 

K 

4 

12 

3 

1 

12 

30 

2 

2 

10 

0 

8 

9 

3 

4 

K 

L 

7 

1 7 

14 

4 

12 

16 

4 

6 

5 

1 

_5_ 

3 

1 

L 

82 

142 

260 

62 

143 

234 

54 

52 

37 

8 

27 

3i 

33 

35 

In  this  table  the  measure  of  the  reaction  time,  appearing 
in  the  second  column,  is  the  median.  One  half  the  difference 
between  the  upper  and  lower  quartiles  (the  semi-quartile 
difference)  is  given  as  the  measure  of  variability.  In  the 
remaining  columns  the  figures  given  indicate  the  number  of 
reactions  put  into  these  classes. 

Reaction-Time  Measures 

The  use  of  the  median  instead  of  the  mean  as  the  best 
measure  of  reaction  time  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  there  is 
a skew  distribution  of  reaction  times,  represented  by  a curve 
such  as  shown  on  the  following  page. 

The  mode  and  mean  are  on  opposite  sides  of  the  median, 
the  mode  being  closer  to  the  short  time  reaction  end  and 
the  mean  closer  to  the  long  time  reaction  end  of  the  distri- 
bution curve.  One  factor  tending  toward  such  a skew  dis- 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


48$ 


Reaction  tiine  in  ioths  of  a second. 


tribution  lies  in  the  existence  of  a number  of  reactions  in 
which  there  is  a blocking  or  conflict  in  the  mental  process, 
thus  excessively  lengthening  the  reaction  time.  If  this 
factor  could  be  entirely  eliminated  it  is  still  probable  that 
there  would  be  a skew  distribution  since  there  is  an  absolute 
lower  limit,  less  than  which  the  reaction  time  cannot  be,  but 
no  such  upper  limit.  With  such  a skew  distribution  the 
average  is  too  greatly  affected  by  a few  large  observations  to 
make  it  a desirable  measure  of  reaction  time.  Again,  the 
mode  takes  no  account  whatsoever  of  any  measures  except 
those  neighboring  to  it  and  is  therefore  not  a desirable 
measure.  The  median  is  affected  to  an  equal  extent  by 
every  measure  and  is  here  considered  the  best  single  value  to 
measure  the  reaction  time  of  the  individual.  The  same 
objection  that  applies  to  the  mean  applies  to  such  measures 
as  the  average  deviation,  or  the  standard  deviation,  as 
measures  of  variability,  and  for  the  same  reason  that  the 
median  is  chosen  as  the  best  measure  of  reaction  time,  the 
semi-quartile  difference  is  chosen  as  the  best  measure  of 
variability. 

Grouping  of  Classes 

In  the  classification  according  to  the  nature  of  the  mental 
process  involved  there  are  fifteen  classes*  with  varying 
numbers  of  observations  in  each.  In  order  to  have  measures 
of  the  types  of  reaction  which  are  more  reliable  than  is 
possible  under  such  conditions  certain  of  these  classes  have 
been  combined  into  groups.  There  are  at  least  two  methods 
for  determining  the  classes  which  shall  be  so  combined. 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


489 


1.  The  combination  of  the  classes  into  groups  according 
to  the  judgment  of  the  classifier,  his  idea  as  to  the  intimacy 
of  the  classes  being  the  sole  justification  for  combining  them. 
Instead  of  adopting  such  a method,  which  would  be  simply 
an  a priori  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  classifier,  the  fol- 
lowing is  used: 

2.  The  observers  are  ranked  according  to  the  total  number 
of  observations  occurring  in  one  class  and  then  ranked  again 
according  to  the  total  number  occurring  in  a second  class. 
With  these  rankings  as  a basis  the  degree  to  which  the  two 
classes  are  correlated  determines  whether  the  classes  are 
grouped  or  not.  In  a similar  manner  every  class  was  corre- 
lated with  every  other  class.  We  may  well  assume  a simi- 
larity of  mental  process  to  be  involved  in  reacting  according 
to  the  different  classes  so  grouped.  The  following  table 
shows  the  correlation  existing  between  each  class  and  certain 
of  the  other  classes: 


Sound 

Phrase 

Comp. 

Synonyms 

Contrast 

K 

0 

O 

U 

Predicate 

Subor. 

& 

O 

U 

Supra. 

Causal 

Subj.  Rel. 

Sound 

— .28 
-•75 

Phrase  Comp 

-•37 

Synonyms 

I. 

•44 

-•37 

-•55 

Contrast 

I. 

Coexist 

•31 

I. 

.60 

•55 

Predicate 

-•55 

-•34 

.69 

I. 

•55 

Subor 

I. 

Codr. 

.09 

-.69 

I. 

•47 

-•44 

Supra 

Causality 

•31 

-•34 

•50 

•34 

I. 

-•55 

.28 

•57 

I. 

•47 

.28 

Subj.  Rel 

Obj.  Rel 

— .28 

-•47 

-.38 

•4i 

•57 

•55 

.62 

The  method  of  calculating  these  coefficients  of  correlation 
and  their  probable  errors,  which  is  .19  or  less,  is  given  later. 
In  any  square  in  the  table  the  coefficient  of  correlation  found 
is  that  between  the  classes  indicated  at  the  top  of  the  column 
and  the  left  of  the  row  in  which  the  coefficient  occurs.  Those 
squares  left  blank  indicate  that  the  correlation  is  small,  in 
fact  in  no  case  larger  than  one  and  one  third  times  the  prob- 
able error.  An  inspection  of  this  table  shows  that  certain 
classes  may  be  combined  into  groups  on  the  basis  of  high 
correlation  between  them. 


490 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


(Alpha)  Synonyms,  Coordination  and  Contrast  are  com- 
bined into  a single  group,  Alpha,  on  account  of  the  following 
correlations;  between  Synonyms  and  Contrast,  .44;  between 
Contrast  and  Coordination,  .69.  The  positive  correlation 
between  Synonyms  and  Coordination,  .09,  is  so  small  as  to  be 
practically  no  additional  reason  for  the  grouping. 

(Beta)  Object  Relation,  Subject  Relation  and  Causality 
are  combined  into  a single  group,  Beta,  on  the  basis  of  the 
following  correlations;  between  Object  Relation  and  Subject 
Relation,  .62;  between  Subject  Relation  and  Causality,  .47; 
and  between  Causality  and  Object  Relation,  .28. 

(Gamma)  Predicates,  Subordination  and  Coexistence  are 
combined  into  a single  group,  Gamma,  on  the  basis  of  the 
following  correlations;  between  Predicates  and  Coexistence, 
.60;  between  Coexistence  and  Subordination,  .55;  and  between 
Subordination  and  Predicates,  .55. 

The  following  classes  are  not  grouped:  Phrase  Completion, 
Sound,  Supraordination.  Phrase  Completion  shows  no  de- 
cided positive  correlations.  Sound  is  appreciably  correlated 
with  Object  Relation,  but  not  with  the  subjects  Causality 
and  Subject  Relation,  which  are  highly  correlated  with 
Object  Relation,  and  therefore  Sound  is  not  grouped  with 
Object  Relation.  For  a similar  reason  Supraordination  is 
not  grouped.  Coexistence  is  not  classed  with  the  subjects 
in  group  Beta  for  it  is  more  highly  correlated  with  the  sub- 
jects, Predicates  and  Subordination,  with  which  it  has  been 
grouped. 

The  positive  correlation  coefficients  here  given  are  some- 
what too  small  and  the  negative  coefficients  too  large  for  the 
reason  that  there  is  a tendency  toward  negative  correlation, 
since  the  more  in  one  class  the  less  number  that  remain  which 
can  be  put  into  another  class.  After  a reaction  is  put  into 
one  class  there  is  less  probability,  in  the  ratio  of  99  to  100, 
of  any  other  class  containing  as  great  a number  as  it  other- 
wise would.  For  this  reason  the  importance  of  negative 
correlation  coefficients  lies  in  their  ability  to  indicate  which 
classes  are  most  strongly  opposed,  rather  than  to  accurately 
measure  the  amount  of  opposition. 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


49 1 


Following  is  a table  giving  the  number  of  times  the  ob- 
servers reacted  according  to  the  Alpha,  Beta  and  Gamma 
types : 


Alpha 

Beta 

Gamma 

A 

27 

I 

55 

B 

13 

3 

62 

C 

49 

4 

26 

D 

26 

1 

16 

E 

18 

10 

45 

F 

39 

7 

22 

G 

23 

10 

55 

H 

36 

10 

35 

/ 

54 

5 

20 

J 

59 

7 

19 

K 

6 

20 

44 

L 

24 

13 

32 

This  table  is  obtained  by  combining  the  appropriate 
columns  of  the  table  on  page  487. 

The  complete  record  of  introspections  makes  it  possible 
to  investigate  what  effect  the  elaborateness  of  the  association 
process  has  upon  the  reaction  time.  This  is  done  in  the 
following  manner: 

In  addition  to  the  three  schemes  of  classification  already 
mentioned  the  data  are  classified  according  to  the  number  of 
ideas  or  the  number  of  different  kinds  of  imagery  present  in 
each  association,  as  shown  by  the  introspections.  Each 
association  is  given  a grade  for  its  elaborateness,  1,  2,  3,  etc., 
which  is  based  upon  the  number  of  discrete  ideas  or  different 
kinds  of  imagery  present,  i.  e .,  if  the  introspection  shows  but 
a single  idea  and  but  a single  kind  of  imagery  then  the  associ- 
ation is  graded  1.  If  the  introspection  shows  one  idea,  but 
expressed  through  two  kinds  of  imagery,  or  two  ideas,  suf- 
ficiently separate  from  each  other  to  warrant  being  called  two 
discrete  ideas,  expressed  through  but  one  kind  of  imagery, 
then  the  grade  is  2,  and  similarly  for  grades  3 or  4.  The 
determination  of  the  number  of  ideas  and,  to  a less  extent, 
the  determination  of  the  different  kinds  of  imagery  is  only 
approximately  possible,  but  only  a relative  determination  of 
the  elaborateness  of  the  associations  is  sought  and,  so  far  as 
external  criteria  can  determine  this  fact,  the  introspections 
and  the  scheme  of  grading  adopted  probably  answer  the 


49  2 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


purpose  fairly  well.  Although  the  associations  are  here  put 
into  i idea,  2 ideas,  etc.,  classes,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
associations  naturally  divide  themselves  into  such  classes 
and  that  there  are  not  as  well  associations  of  an  elaborateness 
corresponding  to  the  grades  ij,  if,  2J,  etc. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  classification  according  to  the 
number  of  ideas  or  kinds  of  imagery  is  entirely  irrespective 
of  whether  these  ideas  or  different  kinds  of  imagery  are  con- 
secutive or  simultaneous.  In  some  cases  the  introspections 
reveal  a train  of  thought  composed  of  three  or  four  ideas, 
but  more  frequently  they  reveal  simply  a number  of  ideas  and 
kinds  of  imagery,  which  may  have  been  either  simultaneous 
or  in  the  form  of  a train.  The  possibility  of  having  two 
separate  simultaneous  ideas  is  neither  affirmed  nor  denied — 
the  position  is  that  the  introspections,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  where  more  than  one  idea  is  present,  do  not  reveal 
whether  one  idea  has  arisen  after  the  other  or  whether  the 
two  or  more  ideas  are  simply  different  aspects  of  a single 
state  of  consciousness. 

All  the  reactions  are  classified  as  indicated,  after  first 
discarding  those  in  which  the  observer  distinctly  indicated 
that  there  had  been  a blocking  or  conflict  in  the  thought 
processes.  The  following  table  gives  the  number  of  obser- 
vations in  each  class,  the  median  reaction  time  and  the  upper 
and  lower  quartiles. 

A reference  to  the  median  values  shows  that  there  is 
approximately  an  increase  of  .14  second  between  any  class 
and  the  one  above  it.  The  significance  of  this  increase  is 
apparent  when  compared  with  some  measure  of  deviation, 
e.  g .,  the  semi-quartile  difference,  which,  from  the  last  column 
in  the  above  table,  we  find  to  be  .31  second.  That  is,  there 
is  an  increase  of  14/31  of  the  median  deviation  for  each 
additional  idea  or  kind  of  imagery  present  in  the  association. 
Even  this  measure,  viz.,  14/31  of  the  median  deviation,  is 
difficult  of  entirely  significant  interpretation. 

The  most  adequate  measure  to  interpret  linear  relation  is 
a coefficient  of  correlation.  The  data  being  here  considered 
are  not  entirely  satisfactory  for  correlation  purposes  for  the 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


493 


A: 


B: 


C: 


D: 


E: 


F: 


G: 


H: 


I: 


J: 

K: 

L: 


No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q.... 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.Q.... 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.Q.... 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.  Q 

No.  observations 

L.  Q 

M 

U.Q 


Total  No.  observations 

Weighted  "j  L.  Q 

Average  1>M 

Measures  J U.  Q. . . . . . , 


One  Idea 

Two  Ideas 

Three  or  More 
Ideas 

Total 

23 

39 

23 

85 

1.2 

ip 

1.4 

IIS 

1.4 

1.2 

1.6 

i-3 

i.6 

1-4 

2.0 

1.6 

33 

38 

*4 

85 

•9 

.8 

•9 

•9 

1.0 

ip 

1.1 

1.0 

1.0 

i.I 

*.23 

II5 

74 

13 

87 

1.0 

i-35 

1.0 

1. 18 

1.8 

1.2 

1.63 

2.15 

i-7 

44 

28 

4 

76 

1.0 

1.0 

1.28 

1.0 

1 -IS 

1.2 

2.3 

1.2 

*•73 

1.68 

3-03 

1.8 

23 

50 

20 

93 

1-3 

1.4 

1.4 

i-3 

1.4 

1 -7 

1.65 

1.6 

2.0 

2.08 

2.28 

2.1 

64 

28 

5 

97 

1.2 

1.23 

1.0 

1.2 

i-3 

i-55 

1.1 

1.4 

1.68 

1.9 

1.4 

1.8 

69 

23 

6 

98 

.8 

1.1 

115 

•9 

1.1 

1.4 

i-5 

1.2 

1.4 

1.9 

i-93 

i-5 

44 

38 

10 

92 

1.0 

1.1 

113 

1.0 

1.2 

i-3 

i-5 

1-3 

1.4 

i-5 

1.78 

i-5 

59 

28 

6 

93 

1. 1 

1.23 

1. 18 

1.1 

1.4 

i-5 

1-45 

1.4 

i-7 

1.8 

1.98 

i-7 

61 

29 

4 

94 

•9 

•9 

1.25 

•9 

1.2 

1.2 

1.8 

1.2 

i-55 

1.4 

2-35 

1.6 

60 

28 

3 

9i 

.8 

•9 

.8 

.8 

1.0 

1.0 

1.0 

1.0 

i-3 

i-3 

2.6 

1-3 

84 

10 

1 

95 

i-3 

i-5 

i-3 

1.6 

1.8 

2.4 

1.6 

1.9 

2.15 

2.2 

638 

352 

95 

1,086 

1.03 

1. 10 

1. 21 

1.04 

1.25 

i-35 

1.52 

1.29 

1 -59 

1.64 

1.99 

1.66 

494 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


following  reasons:  (i)  The  division  into  classes  of  I idea, 
2 ideas,  etc.,  is  too  coarse  a grading,  for  91  per  cent,  of  the 
observations  are  found  in  the  first  and  second  classes.  (2) 
The  distribution  according  to  the  number  of  ideas  is  skew, 
having  a mode  at  1 idea  and  tapering  off  to  4 or  5.  (3)  The 

distribution  of  the  reaction  times  is  skew,  having  a mode  at 
1.0",  a lower  limit  at  .5"  and  an  upper  limit  at  about  3.5". 
(4)  The  1,086  observations  are  not  equally  independent,  being 
comprised  of  twelve  sets  of  about  90  each,  each  set  being  the 
data  for  one  individual. 

Considering  these  objections  in  order:  (1)  This  is  an 
objection  which  cannot  be  overcome,  but  its  effect  will  be  to 
decrease  any  coefficient  of  correlation  found,  so  that  it  will 
not  be  the  cause  of  spurious  correlation.  (2)  and  (3)  The 
fact  that  the  distributions  are  skew  does  not  in  itself  vitiate 
the  use  of  a Pearson  coefficient  of  correlation.  A far  more 
important  consideration  is  that  the  relation  shall  be  linear, 
which  it  is  approximately.  (4)  In  order  to  obviate  this 
difficulty  a coefficient  of  correlation  can  be  calculated  for 
each  individual  and  the  average  of  them  will  give  the  average 
correlation  found.  Calculation  upon  this  basis  gives  the 
following  results: 


Observers  r’s 

A 204 

B 413 

C 250 

D 095 

E 123 

F 043 

G 340 

H 219 

1 154 

/ 137 

K 038 

L -144 

Average 180 

Probable  error 020 


It  is  thus  seen  that  the  average  correlation  found  is  .18, 
with  a small  probable  error  of  .02. 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


495 


The  Observers 

Before  giving  scholarship  records  a word  as  to  the  ob- 
servers will  be  in  order.  The  observers  are  all  men  with  the 
exception  of  observer  C.  Observers  A,  B,  C,  D , F , G and  H 
are  either  graduate  students  or  have  completed  work  for  a 
Ph.D.  degree.  The  others  are  all  advanced  undergraduates. 
Observer  E is  a Japanese  student  who  has  a good  command 
of  the  English  language.  Observer  / is  a Russian  and  a 
linguist  of  very  exceptional  ability.  He  is  gifted  with  a 
remarkable  memory  and  is  also  exceptionally  strong  in 
mathematics,  engineering,  science  and  economics.  Observer 
H is  a keen  student  of  philosophy  and  his  grades  in  other 
scholastic  subjects  are  perhaps  considerably  below  his  ability 
in  them.  This  is  also  probably  the  case  with  some  of  the 
other  observers.  For  reasons  mentioned  in  the  next  para- 
graph the  rankings  in  mathematics,  science  and  foreign 
languages  do  not  conform  exactly  with  the  grades  received  in 
these  subjects;  however,  the  rankings  given  are  upon  the 
basis  of  grades  and  are  indicative  of  ability  only  in  so  far  as 
are  the  grades  received. 

Rankings  in  Mathematics,  Science  and  Foreign 
Languages 

Mathematics,  science  and  foreign  languages  were  chosen 
because  grades  in  these  subjects  are  more  accessible  than  is 
true  of  subjects  less  universally  pursued.  The  grades  re- 
corded in  the  following  table  were  taken  from  the  registrar’s 
records  when  possible.  If  the  student’s  undergraduate  work 
was  done  at  some  other  institution  equivalent  grades  at  the 
University  of  Illinois  were  taken.  In  some  cases  this  in- 
volved an  estimate,  which  was  based  upon  the  student’s 
own  judgment  of  his  ability  and  upon  other  available  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  equivalent  grades. 

Following  is  a table  of  grades  and  rankings.  (A  star 
indicates  a change  in  the  order  of  ranking  from  that  of 
grading.) 


496 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


Mathematics 

Science 

Foreign  Language 

Grade 

Rank 

Grade 

Rank 

Grade 

Rank 

A 

91 

I* 

91 

4 

87 

6 

B 

8l 

7 

88 

6.5 

94 

2.5 

C 

93 

3 

94.2 

3 

94 

2-5 

D 

88 

5 

95 

2 

84 

8 

E 

83 

6 

88 

6-5 

89 

4 

F 

90 

4 

93 

1* 

86.5 

7 

G 

73 

ii-S 

77 

11 

85 

5* 

H 

73 

ii-S 

80 

10 

83 

9 

i 

84 

2* 

86.5 

5* 

98 

1 

J 

80 

9 

85.7 

8 

69 

12 

K 

80 

9 

76.5 

12 

72-5 

11 

L 

80 

9 

82.2 

9 

77 

10 

In  every  case  where  the  order  of  ranking  has  been  changed 
from  that  of  grading  and  an  observer  with  a lower  grade  in  a 
subject  ranked  ahead  of  some  with  higher  grades,  the  change 
is  amply  justified  because  the  lower  grades  are  averages  of 
grades  received,  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  advanced  courses  and 
the  grades  of  the  observers  passed  were  received  in  more  or 
less  elementary  courses.  To  illustrate:  observer  I with  a 
grade  of  84  in  mathematics  is  ranked  second,  ahead  of 
observers  C and  F , but  not  ahead  of  observer  A.  F s grade 
is  for  advanced  work  in  mathematics,  as  also  is  A* s,  but  C’s 
and  F’s  grades  are  for  elementary  mathematics.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  the  writer  that  the  ranking  given  corresponds 
very  closely  with  the  ranking  of  these  observers  if  determined 
according  to  grades  received  in  identical  courses  in  mathe- 
matics, science  and  foreign  languages,  but  it  is  not  thought 
that  such  grades  would  represent  very  accurately  the  abilities 
of  the  students  in  the  subjects  named  for  the  reason  that  cer- 
tain of  them  would  make  little  effort  to  rank  well  according 
to  grade.  For  example,  G and  H both  receive  grades  around 
95  in  subjects  which  interest  them  and  which  they  spend 
their  time  upon,  and  if  ability  in  mathematics  could  be 
measured  it  is  hardly  likely  that  they  would  stand  last. 

Tables 

The  following  table  gives  rankings  in  all  the  preceding 
tests.  The  abbreviations  at  the  head  of  the  table  have 
meanings  as  follows:  Mathematics;  science;  foreign  lan- 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


49  7 


guages;  (the  remaining  measures  refer  to  the  association 
experiment);  median  time  of  reaction;  variability  in  reaction 
time,  i.  e.,  the  semi-quartile  difference;  recall  of  a particular 
situation;  visual  imagery;  second  articulatory  imagery,  i.  e.y 
repetition  in  the  use  of  reaction  words;  Alpha  group;  Beta 
group;  Gamma  group,  as  defined  on  p.  490. 

Table  of  Rankings 


Scholarship 

Association  Test 

Math. 

Sci 

F.  L. 

Time 

Var. 

Part. 

Sit. 

Vis. 

Second 

Art. 

Alpha 

Beta 

Gamma 

A 

I 

4 

6 

7 

6 

4-5 

2 

2 

6 

II-5 

2-5 

B 

7 

6-5 

2-5 

1 

1 

3 

4 

8 

11 

IQ 

I 

C 

3 

3 

2-5 

5-5 

11 

9*5 

12 

II 

3 

9 

8 

D 

5 

2 

8 

9-5 

12 

11 

II 

II 

7 

II-5 

12 

E 

6 

6.5 

4 

12 

10 

i-5 

6 

s 

10 

4 

4 

F 

4 

1 

7 

8 

4 

7 

10 

4 

4 

6.5 

9 

G 

n .5 

11 

5 

3 

4 

4-5 

3 

6-5 

9 

4 

2-5 

H 

ii-S 

10 

9 

5-5 

4 

12 

9 

6-5 

5 

4 

6 

I 

2 

5 

1 

9*5 

7 

i-5 

8 

11 

2 

8 

10 

J 

9 

8 

12 

4 

9 

9-5 

S 

3 

1 

6-5 

11 

K 

9 

12 

11 

2 

2 

8 

1 

1 

12 

1 

5 

L 

9 

9 

10 

11 

8 

6 

7 

9 

8 

2 

7 

Following  is  a table  of  coefficients  of  correlation,  calcu- 
lated from  the  rankings  in  the  preceding  table: 


Scholarship  | Association  Test 


Math. 

Sci. 

F.  L. 

1 

Time 

Var. 

Part. 

Sit. 

Vis. 

2d 

Art. 

Alpha 

Beta 

Math 

I. 

.81 

•44 

-•3i 

-.13 

•25 

-.31 

-.18 
•37 
-•55 
— .22 

Sci 

I. 

•31 

-•34 

-.41 

.00 

-•7 1 
-•34 
•37 
-•75 
.28 

F.  L 

I. 

.00 

-•151 

.60 

.00 

-•44 

,I9i 

-'44 

.22I 

Ass’n  Time 

.60 

-AS 

.41 

•25 

-.28 

.08 

41 

Var 

I. 

•25 

•50 

•50 

“•37 

.38 

•55 

Part.  Sit 

I. 

.22 

.OO 

-•34 

.00 

•47 

Vis 

"48 

-•50 

P 

•65 

2’d  Art 

I. 

*22j 

•37 

•341 

Alpha 

Beta 

Gamma 

I. 

-•31 

-.65 

I. 

.22 

In  any  square  the  coefficient  of  correlation  given  is  that 
between  the  subjects  indicated  at  the  top  of  the  column  and 
the  left  of  the  row  in  which  the  coefficient  occurs.  These 
coefficients  are  comparable  with  Pearson  coefficients  of 
correlation,  but  were  not  calculated  according  to  the  Pearson 


498 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


method.  Spearman  ^-coefficients  of  correlation  were  calcu- 
lated and  transferred  approximately  into  Pearson  r-coef- 
ficients  by  means  of  the  relation,  r = sin  ( pi/2-R ).  The 
probable  error  of  a zero  coefficient  of  correlation  is  .19. 
(P.E.r  = 1.5,  P.E^  = 1.5  (.43/ Vn).)1  If  the  correlation  is 
as  high  as  .40  we  may  feel  certain  that  there  is  appreciable 
correlation  and  that  the  probable  error  is  less  than  .19,  but 
I cannot  give  a formula  quantitatively  expressing  this.  The 
formula  (1  — r2).  19  quite  likely  is  not  far  from  correct,  but  it 
lays  no  claim  to  either  mathematical  or  empirical  justification. 


Interpretation  and  Conclusions 
The  small  number  of  individuals  studied  necessitates  that 
the  results  be  constantly  interpreted  with  reference  to  their 
probable  errors.  In  the  following  work  significance  will  be 
given  particularly  only  to  coefficients  of  correlation  greater 
than  .40,  at  which  point  the  chances  are  about  10  to  1 that  at 
least  some  correlation  does  exist. 

Following  is  a restatement  of  the  table  on  page  497  arrang- 
ing subjects  in  the  order  of  magnitude  with  which  they  are 
correlated  with  mathematics,  science  and  foreign  languages: 


Science 


Foreign  Languages 


Part.  Sit. 


60 


Mathematics 


Sci 

.81 

F.  L 

•44 

Alpha 

•37 

Part.  Sit 

•25 

Ass’n  Var 

-•13 

Second  Art 

-.18 

Gamma 

— .22 

Ass’n  Time 

-•3i 

Vis 

— .31 

Beta 

-•55 

Math 

.81 

Alpha 

•37 

F.  L 

A I 

Gamma 

* J A 
.28 

Part.  Sit 

.00 

Second  Art 

“•34 

Ass’n  Time 

-•34 

Ass’n  Var 

-.41 

Vis 

— .71 

Beta 

•/  * 

“•75 

Math 

Sci 

•44 

.11 

Gamma 

J 

.22 

Alpha 

.19 

Ass’n  Time 

.00 

Vis 

.00 

Ass’n  Var 

-•15 

Second  Art 

-.44 

Beta 

-.44 

An  inspection  of  these  columns  reveals  the  following  facts: 

1.  The  recall  of  a particular  situation  shows  a positive 
correlation  of  .25  with  mathematics  and  of  .60  with  foreign 
languages. 

2.  Reaction  time  and  variability  in  reaction  time  are  not 
strongly  correlated  with  these  subjects,  though  what  corre- 
lation exists  is  negative  and  strongest  with  science. 

1 Whipple,  ‘Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,’  p.  35. 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


499 


3.  Repetition  in  reaction  words  shows  a slight  negative 
correlation,  especially  with  foreign  languages. 

4.  Visual  imagery  is  negatively  correlated,  especially  with 
science. 

5.  The  group  Alpha  (Synonyms,  Coordination  and  Con- 
trast) is  favorably  correlated  with  mathematics,  science  and 
foreign  languages. 

6.  The  Gamma  group  (Predicates,  Coexistence  and  Sub- 
ordination) is  not  materially  correlated  with  these  scholastic 
subjects. 

7.  The  Beta  group  (Subject  Relation,  Object  Relation  and 
Causality)  shows  a pronounced  negative  correlation  with  all 
three  subjects. 

The  reason  for  the  existence  of  the  tendencies  noted  is 
largely  a matter  of  conjecture  and  the  following  are  given  as 
theories  of  explanation: 

1.  The  recall  of  a particular  situation  is  evidence  of  ability 
in  a certain  operation  of  memory.  Excellence  in  foreign 
language  demands  a certain  operation  of  memory.  The 
high  correlation  between  the  recall  of  a particular  situation 
and  foreign  languages  indicates  that  the  two  operations  of 
memory  referred  to  are  either  the  same  or  have  some  common 
factor. 

2.  No  explanation  for  the  small  correlations  found  in  (2) 
is  attempted,  further  than  to  offer  the  theory  that  those  able 
in  science  are  rather  slow  but  sure  in  their  thought  processes 
and  therefore  the  tendency  is  to  longer  reaction  times. 

3.  Repetition  of  words  is  considered  by  Jung  and  Riklin1 
as  evidence  of  a limited  vocabulary.  Excellence  in  foreign 
language  is  closely  connected  with  the  possession  of  a large 
vocabulary.  In  explanation  of  the  high  correlation  between 
foreign  languages  and  the  second  Articulatory  class  (Repe- 
titions) the  theory  is  advanced  that  the  mental  condition  in 
which  there  is  difficulty  in  learning  a foreign  vocabulary  is 
the  same  as,  or  intimately  connected  with,  the  mental  con- 
dition in  which  the  repetition  of  words  in  the  association 
experiment  occurs. 

1 Journal  fur  Neurologie  und  Psychology,  1903-04.  Diagnostische  Assoziation 
Studien. 


5oo 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


4.  Regarding  the  function  of  visual  imagery:  Some,  at 
least,  of  the  introspections  exhibit  visual  imagery  as  a medi- 
ating factor  in  the  association  process,  i.  <?.,  a necessary  link 
between  stimulus  and  reaction;  e.  g.,  observer  A,  No.  15, 
stimulus  ‘truth,’  reaction  ‘u,’  time  of  reaction  1.8",  intro- 
spection “Strong  visual  image  of  the  word  spelled  out. 
Search  for  a related  word  finally  discontinued  and  reaction 
‘u’  because  of  its  vividness  in  the  word  ‘truth.’  There  was 
no  attempt  to  prevent  vocalization  of  the  letter,  since  I had 
no  thought  that  it  would  not  meet  the  condition  of  the  experi- 
ment which  requires  that  the  reaction  shall  be  a word.”  The 
introspection  indicates  that  the  visual  imagery  mediated 
between  stimulus  and  reaction.  A number  of  such  reactions 
occurred.  However  most  of  the  visual  imagery  can  be 
explained  as  attendant  imagery,  e.  g.,  observer  B , No.  71, 
stimulus  ‘habit,’  reaction  ‘instinct,’  time  of  reaction  1.7", 
introspection  “Visual  image  of  the  natural  history  building, 
then  of  the  physiological  laboratory,  then  of  the  zoological 
laboratory  at  Chicago,  then  of  an  unbound  copy  of  the 
Journal  of  Animal  Psychology , then  of  an  article,  apparently 
by  Yerkes,  then  Lloyd  Morgan’s  book  ‘Habit  and  Instinct.’” 
In  by  far  the  majority  of  cases  of  visual  imagery  the  associ- 
ation is  less  elaborate  than  the  case  just  cited.  The  following 
is  an  illustration  of  a large  class;  stimulus  ‘beauty,’  reaction 
‘girl,’  introspection  “I  had  a visual  image  of  a beautiful  girl.” 
In  such  an  association  the  belief  that  the  visual  imagery  is 
merely  attendant  is  less  forced  than  in  the  illustration  given 
immediately  before,  but  there  is  little  difference  in  principle 
between  the  two.  If  visual  imagery  is  simply  attendant  to 
the  process  of  association  and  is  not  in  general  a mediating 
factor  then  it  is  unnecessary  and  possibly  a disturbing  in- 
fluence, and  it  may  be  that  those  without  it  spend  that  energy 
in  more  productive  processes  and  therefore  rank  highest  in 
scholastic  work.  This  conclusion  is  in  agreement  with  the 
finding  of  Galton  that  men  of  science  are  peculiarly  lacking  in 
visual  imagery. 

5.  An  analysis  of  certain  of  the  fundamental  conceptions 
of  mathematics  and  science  may  reveal  a reason  for  the 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


5ox 


correlation  of  .37  between  each  of  these  subjects  and  the 
group  Alpha  (Synonyms,  Contrast  and  Coordination).  Such 
a conception  as  that  of  the  surd  roots  of  a quadratic  equation 
involves  the  idea  of  coordination  and  contrast  very  explicitly. 
All  conceptions  involving  inverse  operations,  e.  g .,  differ- 
entiation and  integration,  are  definitely  conceptions  of 
contrast.  Mathematical  operations,  such  as  solutions  of 
equations,  definitely  involve  concepts  of  equality  or  identity, 
which  is  very  similar  to  the  conception  involved  in  the  giving 
of  synonyms.  Considering  the  similarity  of  process  in 
mathematics  and  in  the  comparison  and  contrasting  of 
equivalent  names,  it  is  not  surprising  that  there  is  a corre- 
lation between  mathematics  and  the  group  Alpha,  but  rather 
that  the  correlation  is  not  larger  than  is  indicated  in  the  table. 

The  high  correlation  between  mathematics  and  science  is 
in  itself  sufficient  to  account  for  most  of  the  correlation 
between  science  and  the  group  Alpha. 

The  correlation  between  the  group  Alpha  and  foreign 
languages,  .19,  is  smaller  than  a consideration  of  the  im- 
portance of  synonyms  in  foreign  language  work  would  lead 
one  to  anticipate.  A correlation  coefficient,  not  shown  in  the 
table,  between  foreign  languages  and  synonyms  gives  the 
correlation  as  .34. 

The  classification  contains  no  group  comparable  to  Jung’s 
Definition  class.  Such  a reaction  as  the  following,  stimulus 
‘father,’  reaction  ‘chief  of  the  family,’  Jung1  cites  as  belonging 
to  the  Definition  class.  His  conclusions  that  the  definition 
type  of  reaction  is  a simulated  type  and  is  evidence  of  low 
mentality,  do  not  apply  to  the  Synonym  class  in  this  experi- 
ment for  the  following  reasons:  ( a ) There  would  be  few,  if 
any,  reactions  found  in  the  Synonym  class  in  this  experiment, 
which  would  precisely  correspond  to  Jung’s  Definition  class. 
(b)  The  postulate  of  simulation  is  a theory  of  explanation 
and  not  a fact  of  evidence.  While  simulation  has  been  the 
subject  of  considerable  investigation  a definite  criterion 
thereof  is  still  lacking.  There  is  no  ground  for  the  assumption 
that  the  reactions  here  classified  as  synonyms  are  simulated. 

1 20th  anniversary  lectures  of  Clark  University. 


5°  2 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


The  results  obtained  in  this  experiment  point  to  the  fact 
that  reactions  with  synonyms  are  correlated  with  a high  type 
of  ability  in  scholastic  pursuits. 

6.  The  Gamma  group  is  composed  as  follows:  55  percent. 
Predicates  and  Judgments  of  Quality;  33  per  cent.  Coexistence; 
and  13  per  cent.  Subordination.  Things  can  coexist  in  a very 
large  number  of  ways  and,  as  already  explained,  the  reactions 
were  put  into  this  class  only  when  they  could  not  satisfactorily 
be  put  into  another.  It  follows  that  the  reactions  in  this 
class  are  heterogeneous  and  high  correlation  between  Co- 
existence and  scholastic  work  could  not  be  expected.  The 
mental  processes  involved  in  naming  predicates  of  an  object 
are  quite  similar  to  those  concerned  in  Subordination.  The 
naming  of  predicates  is  neither  a particularly  difficult,  nor  a 
particularly  simple  task,  but  is  quite  colorless  and  on  a more 
or  less  automatic  level.  Because  of  the  nature  of  the  three 
classes  composing  the  group  Gamma,  one  could  anticipate 
only  slight  correlation  of  this  group  with  scholastic  attain- 
ments. The  small  correlations  that  the  data  yield  are  in 
this  order:  positive  for  science  (where  the  importance  of  the 
naming  of  predicates  is  probably  the  most  pronounced); 
positive,  but  smaller,  for  foreign  languages;  negative  for 
mathematics. 

7.  The  group  Beta  (Subject  Relation,  Object  Relation, 
Causality)  has  only  8 per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  obser- 
vations in  it  and  is  not  considered  as  reliable  as  the  Alpha 
group,  with  31  per  cent.,  or  the  Gamma  group  with  36  per 
cent.  The  description  of  the  observations  put  into  this 
group  (see  page  486)  shows  that  in  the  mind  of  the  classifier 
there  is  a close  connection  between  this  group  and  the 
class  Phrase  Completion.  In  other  words  it  seems  that 
the  naming  of  an  object  when  a verb  is  given,  e.  g .,  ‘hit’ — 
‘horse/  and  the  naming  of  a subject  when  the  verb  is  given, 
e.  g .,  ‘eat’ — ‘boy/  is  an  association  involving  as  little  abstract 
thinking  as  a Phrase  Completion  association,  when  compared 
with  the  thought  processes  involved  in  a logical  association, 
such  as  Coordination,  Contrast  or  Synonyms.  The  corre- 
lation between  group  Beta  and  Phrase  Completion  is  .15,  with 
a probable  error  of  .19  and  if  the  data  were  more  extensive  a 


THE  ASSOCIATION  EXPERIMENT 


5°  3 


decided  correlation  might  be  found.  No  great  weight  is 
placed  upon  the  correlation  found  with  this  group,  because  of 
the  known  paucity  of  data,  but  nevertheless  it  is  believed  that 
such  high  negative  correlations  as  it  shows  are  significant  of 
the  general  undesirability  of  the  Beta  group  type  of  reaction. 

8.  Referring  to  the  data  upon  the  elaborateness  of  associ- 
ation we  find  a correlation  of  .18  =±=  .02  between  elaborateness 
of  association  and  reaction  time.  Though  this  is  probably 
too  small,  it  gives  a quantitative  statement  of  the  relation 
between  these  two  things.  This  coefficient  establishes  be- 
yond question  that  reaction  time  is  a function  of  elaborate- 
ness of  association.  (Elaborateness  is  to  be  understood  as 
here  determined.) 

The  entire  trend  of  this  investigation  points  to  the  fact 
that  (1)  the  free  association  experiment  yields  results  which 
are  indicative  of  the  ability  of  the  observers;  (2)  that  the 
most  significant  features  that  are  favorably  correlated  with 
scholastic  rank  in  mathematics,  science  and  foreign  languages 
are  ( a ) capability  in  the  recall  of  a particular  situation, 
(1 b ) frequency  of  reaction  with  Synonyms,  Coordination  and 
Contrast;  (3)  that  the  most  significant  features  that  are 
unfavorably  correlated  are  ( a ) frequency  of  visual  imagery, 
( b ) frequency  of  Repetitions,  ( c ) frequency  of  reactions  with 
Subject  Relation,  Object  Relation  and  Causality;  (4)  that  the 
data,  as  well  as  a consideration  of  the  groups,  suggest  that 
the  Alpha  group  (Synonyms,  Contrast  and  Coordination) 
method  of  reaction  involves  greater  ability  than  the  Gamma 
group  (Predicates,  Subordination  and  Coexistence),  which  is 
in  turn  superior  to  the  Beta  group  (Subject  Relation,  Object 
Relation  and  Causality)  method. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  association  experiment  the  means 
employed  for  determining  the  relation  between  the  classes 
has  certain  recommendations  which  would  be  of  particular 
importance  in  treating  more  extensive  data.  The  use  of  any 
classification,  such  as  Jung’s,  Wells’,  or  the  one  here  used, 
is  open  to  serious  criticism  upon  the  ground  that  actual 
mental  processes  do  not  follow  the  logical  lines  laid  down  in 
the  classification,  and  therefore  the  justification  for  a logical 
classification  must  lie  in  some  manner  within  itself,  i.  e., 


< 7 


TRUMAN  LEE  KELLEY 


504 

in  its  inter-class  relations,  as  well  as  upon  its  utility  after 
having  once  been  adopted  and  used.  Aside  from  utility  the 
prime  essential  of  a classification  is  not  that  it  shall  be 
logically  sound,  but  rather  that  it  shall  be  capable  of  exact 
definition.  If  the  various  classes  of  a classification  can  be 
so  definitely  defined  that  a second  experimenter,  or  the  same 
experimenter  at  a later  time,  will  classify  a given  set  of  reac- 
tions in  the  same  way  then  the  prime  requisite  of  a classi- 
fication has  been  met.  By  the  method  here  used  the  inter- 
relation of  the  classes  can  be  determined.  As  previously 
indicated,  the  relation  between  classes  thus  found  is  upon 
the  basis  of  the  strength  of  the  tendency  to  react  with  a 
class  B when  the  tendency  to  react  with  a class  A is  known. 
This  method  applied  to  data  sufficiently  extensive  so  that 
the  various  correlation  coefficients  plus  or  minus  their 
respective  probable  errors  do  not  overlap,  would  make  it 
possible  to  arrange  the  classes  in  serial  order  upon  the  basis 
of  the  relationship  between  them;  or,  if  this  were  not  possible 
because  the  classes  intrinsically  are  not  related  in  a serial 
manner,  it  would  make  it  possible  to  group  the  classes  into 
such  groups  as  they  would  naturally  fall  into  and  to  definitely 
express  the  relation  between  these  groups.  With  a classi- 
fication, accurately  defined  as  to  the  observations  in  each  of 
the  classes,  and  definitely  determined  as  to  the  relationship 
between  classes  there  is  scarcely  a limit  to  its  usefulness  in  a 
large  number  of  problems,  e . g.,  the  determination  of  mental 
types,  the  determination  of  the  correlation  between  various 
mental  types  and  any  other  capacities  that  are  capable  of 
measurement  (the  present  investigation  giving  a rough 
determination  of  the  correlation  between  scholastic  standing 
in  certain  subjects  and  certain  types  of  association  illustrates 
this  use),  the  inverse  problem,  viz:  the  determination  of  what 
subjects  a student  is  best  fitted  to  pursue  judged  by  the  results 
of  the  association  experiment,  etc.  A great  deal  of  good 
work  has  been  done  along  the  lines  suggested,  but  much 
remains  to  be  done.  Foremost  in  this  is  the  determination 
of  a completely  satisfactory  classification  and  it  is  the  writer’s 
hope  that  the  method  here  used  will  materially  help  in  the 
solution  of  that  problem. 


7 

ft 


3 01 


2 098476432 


. 

• 

• : 

. 

1 


